Dwyane Wade says raising a transgender child has helped him 'grow'

11 June 2021

Dwyane Wade thinks raising a transgender daughter has helped him to "grow".

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union

The 39-year-old former NBA star admits his 14-year-old daughter Zaya - who came out as transgender last year - has opened his eyes to the LGBTQ+ community and has helped him to become a better person.

Dwayne shared: "I didn't know anything, I really wasn't knowledgeable about the LGBTQ+ community.

"What it has done is it opened my eyes and my ears to something greater and bigger than I, and my daughter has allowed us gracefully to be her support system."

The Olympic gold medal-winning star - who is married to actress Gabrielle Union - considers his teenage daughter to be the "hero" of his family.

And although Dwayne is keen to take advice on his parenting skills, he's ultimately determined to make his own decisions.

He told '3rd Hour of TODAY': "She's the strong one in this family. She's a hero.

"It's our family's job to make sure that we listen to her. We listen to the doctors. We ask questions and we formulate our own ideas of how Zaya should be and should be raised in this world and we don't allow others to do that for us."

Dwayne also has Zaire, 19 and Xavier, seven, from past relationships, as well as Kaavia, two, with Gabrielle.

And the retired sports star thinks he's actually benefited from having kids of different ages.

He explained: "I've been able to see kids in different generations at different times, in different parts of places in my life."

Dwayne thinks the situation has helped him to become a "better parent and be a better person".

He said: "It's helped me grow a lot.

"It's helped me be a better parent and be a better person because I've seen all kids are not alike, and you can't treat them as such."